NotsoTemporary Insanity
by Buffy2204
Summary: Hyde’s world is turned upside down, inside out and round the bend when Jackie convinces him to go to the mall with her. Set in season 3. JH. Detailed Summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own That 70's Show (as if any of you thought I did)_

_Summary: Hyde's world is turned upside down, inside out and round the bend when Jackie convinces him he needs to go to the mall with her. Set in season 3 we join the group after 'Reefer madness' but before 'Jackie bags Hyde'. Jackie has broken up with Kelso and has started her obsessive and somewhat irritating infatuation with Hyde. Little does she know, what happens at the mall might make her think twice about being so annoying._

_A/N: My first 70s fic. I apologize if any of them slip out of character, tell me if you notice anything too outlandish and I'll fix it. I hope you enjoy. J/H forever.  
_

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Oh, damn it. 

It was happening again.

Hyde shifted uncomfortably in his chair and focused all his attention to the small flickering television. He could feel his skin burning as her eyes raked over his face. He could almost hear her silent orders, yelled at him through those, dark, miss-matched eyes. _'Look at me. Look at me. LOOK AT ME,'_

Why was she still hanging out in the basement?? Why can't she just leave them alone? Why can't she leave _him_ alone? It took all his will power to ignore her searing gaze. He turned his chair to face the television and present her with a lovely view of his back.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Foreman watching both him and Jackie with an evil smirk plastering his skinny face.

Bastard.

Hyde couldn't believe his best friend was delighting in his obvious discomfort.

Actually he could believe that.

Eric nudged Donna who was currently snuggled up to his chest and nodded towards the unhappy Hyde and Jackie. The cheerleader was still gazing up at Hyde like an adoring puppy, quite unashamedly. It wouldn't surprise anyone if she started whimpering and doing tricks to get Hyde's attention. Donna's face merged into a smirk almost identical to Eric's then covered a hand over her mouth to stop a giggle from escaping.

The slight gasping noise that escaped Donna, of course, caught Fez's attention who sent a puzzled look in the couple's direction then followed their gaze to Jackie then _her_ gaze to Hyde. Fez looked back between Hyde and Jackie a couple of times then settled down to watch Hyde's unfortunate predicament with his own evil grin decorating his face.

Hyde glanced around the room, carefully avoiding Jackie's stare and found that every other person in the room was now ignoring the television in favour for a more entertaining display.

Morons.

Ever since he had taught her Zen Jackie seemed even more determined to _make _him love her. It was annoying, tiresome, stupid and most of all….terrifying. She was like a crazy, mad, stalker person with no comprehension of the word 'no'. To Jackie, his willingness to help her with her 'Laurie' problem was almost as good as him getting down on his knees and confessing his undying love for her. Just another example of how helping others can screw you over. It wasn't that Jackie wasn't hot. Hell, if he'd never heard her speak she might have been the type of girl he'd gone out with. However, from the moment he'd met her she'd opened her mouth and start talking. As far as he could tell she hasn't stopped since. Therefore, any consideration of taking Jackie up on her offer also came with the unpleasant image of Jackie following him around, possibly for the rest of his life, and nagging him about something or other. _'Steven, why don't you shave?', 'Steven, I want to go out,', 'Steven, take me to the mall,' _To be honest, that was his own personal version of hell.

Donna couldn't hold it in any more. She let out a small laugh and Hyde shot her an exasperated look from behind his dark shades. Jackie, however, was unfazed by her friend's laughter and carried on with her attack on the back of Hyde's head.

This is stupid.

"Jackie!" Hyde shouted as he spun round to face her. He felt an immense surge of satisfaction as he saw her jump in fright. "Stop staring at me!"

This, it seemed, was too much for Fez who joined in with Donna's laughter and Eric also decided to sit back, chuckle and watch the show.

"Oh good, now that I've got your attention, Steven. I need a lift to the mall," Jackie said happily placing a hand on Hyde's knee, pouting slightly, as if she thought that was sexy.

It was.

Hyde glanced at her hand awkwardly for a second, trying to ignore the unnerving connection between her touch and his dry throat, before looking her in the eyes and holding her gaze, hoping to God that the message got across. "NO!" He picked up her wrist between his finger and thumb and placed her hand back on her lap.

"Please, Steven, it'll only be or a short while,"

"No, Jackie!"

"We could get something from the food court. I'll buy!"

Oh, he wasn't falling for that this time. "No,"

Jackie huffed and stuck out her bottom lip in a cute pout. Wait a minute, cute? Steven Hyde did not just describe Jackie Burkhart as cute. He could feel his defences weakening, why did she have this power over people? It was an unfair advantage over everyone else. Alice Cooper would fold over her adoring face. What was wrong with him?

"I'll leave you alone until the end of the week if you'll take me this once," she said with a sexy smile.

Deal.

"Let's go," Hyde said jumping up from the chair. Foreman let out a shout of laughter and Hyde frogged his arm.

"Ow!"

"Thank you, Steven!"

"Whatever,"

She was going to be the death of him.

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_Two hours later…_

Fez tore his gaze away from the television to take a brief look around the dingy, old basement.

Something was wrong.

He could feel it in his candy-obsessed bones. He furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he tried to pinpoint the exact origin of his concern but drew a blank. Eric and Donna were still cuddled on the sofa, Kelso was sitting next them with a goofy grin splayed across his face as he followed a fly around with his eyes. The same fly he had been watching since he came in, shortly after Jackie and Hyde had left….

Jackie and Hyde! Fez jumped in his seat as the realization dawned on him and a more-than worried expression etched his features. They had not returned. This was not good. Only evil could come of this.

Fez cleared his squeaky throat and looked towards Eric and Donna to see if they were worrying as much as he was. Their untroubled looks aided in calming Fez down slightly. That was, until Eric broke off looking at the television enough to glance around the room with a puzzled expression.

"Where are Hyde and Jackie?" he asked.

Fez squeaked in fear. Oh no! Eric was worried too.

Donna broke off her unnatural link with the small black box and looked towards Hyde's chair then the space where Jackie had been but now held Kelso. "I don't know," she said slowly.

"You don't think Jackie ate him, do you?" Eric said, a little panicked.

Donna sent him a look that said 'You're being a jerk but I still love you' then looked at her watch. "They've been gone for hours!" she exclaimed while jumping off the couch. Eric followed in suit and pulled Kelso up with him.

"Relax guys, it's Jackie!" Kelso said "She can spend hours in a mall!"

Fez sprang to his feet in a fit of terror "You don't think something happened to them?"

"Nah!" Kelso waved his hand dismissively.

"You don't think Jackie actually convinced Hyde to…," Donna said thoughtfully.

"What?" Eric whispered in suspense.

"Go out with her, like on a date," Donna finished with wide eyes.

Kelso sprang out of his laidback mood and screamed in disgust. "We've got to find them!" he screeched.

"Kelso, calm down!" Dona said sensing a stupid act coming on as Kelso started pacing the floor. "You and Jackie aren't together anymore," she reasoned.

'Gah!' Kelso screamed again and pointed at Donna as if she'd just announced that Clapton had no talent.

"Why are we even discussing this?" Eric shouted. "Hyde would never go out with Jackie!" he added a nervous chuckle as he looked around at the anxious faces.

"Unless she tricked him," Fez offered.

"Or if he wanted to burn Kelso," Donna agreed ominously.

"Or if he was bored," Fez said.

A hushed, terrified look passed between the gang.

"They have been kind of…nice…to each other recently," Donna said in a hushed voice.

There was a shocked and eerie silence and each member of the group held each other's gaze one by one. Kelso looked indignant, mouth hanging slightly agape, Eric looked twitchy, Donna looked foreboding and Fez looked sweaty.

Then the phone rang from upstairs and everyone jumped.

"What?" Red's gruff voice echoed down the stairs. "I don't understand you….slow down….Kitty, that loud girl's hysterical, can you take the phone?"

Donna sprinted into action and barrelled up the stairs, taking two at a time and grabbed the phone just before Kitty got to it.

"Jackie! Where have you been?!"

"_Oh Donna! It's all my fault!! We were laughing and he told me to be quiet then there was this noise and…_" Jackie broke down into sobs.

"Jackie, what's happened?" Donna asked, "Start from the beginning,"

"_There's no time! I don't know where he is! I can't find him…he was just here telling me to shut my pie hole then he stopped and I stopped and then he was gone and I can't find him! They took him somewhere!"_

"Jackie! Calm down! Where are you? Hyde will be fine, he's a big boy now," Donna tried a joke trying to ease the mood but something told her this wasn't one of Jackie's over-reactions. Something was definitely wrong. Eric appeared behind her shoulder and mouthed a silent 'what's happening?' Donna shrugged.

"_I'm at a payphone at the mall……Donna! Donna, I've got to go! They're taking me to where Steven is,"_

"Jackie! Stay where you are! I'm coming to get you!" Donna exclaimed into the phone.

There was static for a few seconds before Jackie came back the phone sounding a little less hysterical. _"I'm going to the hospital, I've seen Steven! They're taking me with him. They say he's going to be fine, Donna!"_

"What the hell, Jackie!?" Donna shouted "What's happening??" By now all three boys were pressed up against the phone, trying to hear the conversation while Red and Kitty stood nervously nearby.

"_I'm sorry, I've got to go!"_ Jackie said then quickly hung up the phone.

Donna stood, staring at the piece of technology for a few seconds then turned to look at the anxious faces.

"Well?" Red asked impatiently "What's wrong?"

"I don't know but someone's taking Hyde to the hospital and that's where we'll find Jackie,"

"Something's happened to Steven??!" Kitty asked in a panicked voice as she clutched Red's shirt.

"That's what I gathered," Donna said.

"Well, let's go!" Eric said and led the way to the cars, followed by Red, Kitty, Donna, Kelso and Fez.

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_Review, I command you! Joking, you don't have to if you don't want to. I just like writing._


	2. Chapter 2

_Hello wonderful people, thank you for the reviews they made my day. I can't believe you thought I was in character! Yey! I must warn you that this plot line is mainly about the 70s characters if they were put in extraordinary circumstances so if they do something out of character it's probably the stress. I'll try and make it as close to the show as possible but just pushing the characters to their limits._

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Jackie stood nervously in the waiting room of the hospital waiting for news of Steven. What could be taking so long? They were already half way through treating his injuries in the ambulance, there couldn't be anything more serious, could there? Jackie felt the tears welling in her eyes again so she threw herself down into the chairs and placed her head in her hands, blinking back the tears. She'd done enough crying today. She couldn't believe what had happened. This has all gone so wrong.

She forced herself to take a deep shaky breath and relax for a minute but that only gave her mind time to catch up with her actions and for her to come down off her adrenaline high. She looked up from her hands and stared off into space, unable to move.

"Miss?" A nurse with a kindly face approached her. She kind of reminded Jackie of Mrs Foreman. She wanted Mrs Foreman right now. She wanted the comfort and love that surrounded that small woman's form. Jackie started to tear up again. "Miss, you're going into shock," the nurse said "Do you want to lie down?" Her voice became slightly echoed as the blood rushed around Jackie's ears.

Jackie nodded. The nurse laid her down on the waiting chairs and handed her a blanket. "You're waiting for that young man who came with you, aren't you?" she smiled.

"Yes," Jackie rasped, trying to get her breathing under control.

"You'll be able to see him in just a few minutes, the doctor is just finishing with him," the nurse said "He's unconscious but you can still see him if you want,"

"Yes," Jackie nodded again.

"Ok," the nurse smiled again. "I'll just see if it's ok for you to visit him now," She left only to return a few minutes later.

"You can go now," she said "He's in room 312, you just go down the corridor and turn right,"

"Thank you," Jackie said and made her way through the bright corridors towards his door. She peered through the glass pane in the door but she could see past the doctor standing at his bedside. She took a deep breath, opened the door and walked slowly into the middle of the room to the end of Steven's bed. She gasped as she took in the sight and clutched at the blanket around her shoulders as if it was her lifeline.

The doctor swivelled round to look at the young woman who had entered the room. He smiled slightly and gave a friendly chuckle. "I've seen them come in a lot worse," he said gently as he noticed her dismayed face.

Jackie nodded but the understanding didn't stop the tears leaking out of her eyes and falling down her cheeks. "How- how badly hurt is he?" she asked quietly.

Saying this, the hospital gown he was wearing didn't do much to hide Hyde's injuries. His left leg and arm were thoroughly bandaged but the burns that weren't so bad as to require a bandage were left exposed. Red and blistered. Littered over his neck, jaw, right leg, shoulder.

The Doctor sighed and scratched his head. "Well, he's been very lucky," Jackie let out a sharp laugh and the Doctor smiled. "He has bad first degree, some second degree burns over the right side of his body and minor first degree burns over his face and neck. The more serious burns will heal with only a few scars and the minor burns should heal perfectly. He has a few cuts from debris but miraculously nothing too deep. We got those cleaned up pretty good and we cleaned his eyes and his ears but we won't know much about the damage to those until he wakes up. What I can't understand is how you came out of this without a scratch on you," the Doctor chuckled.

"He pushed me out the way," Jackie whispered. "Oh! He's going to hate me!" she sobbed.

The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder and said "Surely not,"

"This is all my fault!" she said as she took another look at Steven's burnt body.

"These things happen all the time, it would surprise me very much if this was your fault," the Doctor said and Jackie nodded. "I'm going to leave you now; the nurse's station is just down the hall if you need anything,"

Jackie nodded again and took a seat next Hyde's bed. How could she have done something so stupid? She glanced at his prone figure again and looked down her hands in shame.

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"Steven Hyde! That's 'Hyde' H-Y-D-E," Eric yelled at the nurse behind the desk. "Is he here?"

"Hang on one moment, sir," the nurse said huffily.

"He came here with an annoying, loud, bossy girl;" Red said "She's kind of small with dark hair,"

"Do you know what ward he's in?" she asked tiredly.

"We already told you! No!!" Eric screeched.

"Well, it's going to take me a little while to find him," the nurse said glaring at the four people crowding her desk. The large, redhead looked just about ready to pound her and the small woman looked like she was having some kind of seizure as she bobbed up and down on her toes. They had had two others with them but they disappeared when Nurse Roberts walked past.

"This is urgent! Can't you speed it up?" Eric said then leaned in closer. "He could be dying!" he whispered dramatically.

Donna swiftly slapped him around the head.

"Ow!"

"Dillhole,"

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A groan from the bed next to her brought her out of her thoughts. Hyde shifted in his bed and brought his uninjured hand to his forehead and opened his eyes.

"Steven?" Jackie said softly while staring at his squinting sapphire eyes.

"Jackie?" Hyde rasped and looked her through bloodshot eyes. He was blinking quickly as he tried to stop salty, pain-filled tears forming at his eyelids.

"Steven? Are you crying?" Jackie asked, astonished. She had made Steven Hyde cry. She was going to hell.

"No!" Hyde snapped. "There actually _is_ something in my eyes," he protested. Then realised how feeble that sounded but there _was_ something in them.

"Steven, this is all my fault," she said firmly "So, anything you need just ask me and I'll get it for you. I'm not going to let you suffer alone. I'm going to be by your side night and day!" She was determined to make this whole disaster up to him.

Hyde sighed as he thought of a constant Jackie presence for the next few days or even weeks. He was never going to get rid of this crazy girl and her being next to him night and day is how they got into this mess. She was bad luck, she was annoying and he had this stupid urge to protect her from everything, which, we think we can safely say, doesn't do him a whole lot of good. "Jackie!" he said angrily. "You're right! This _is_ your fault and the way you can help me is just to LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE,"

"But Steven-"

"No, Jackie! For once in your life, take 'no' as an answer. I've had enough of this stupid stalker stuff! You need to _grow up_," he spat, then immediately regretted it when he heard her start to snuffle and gasp.

He hated it when she cried.

"You're right," she said softly then stood up and walked off towards the door, her footsteps echoing off the tiled floor and out into the corridor.

"Wait! Jackie! I didn't mean-," Oh, great. He let his mouth run off on its own and now he was left alone. He blinked a few more times and tried rubbing his eyes. Panic started to clutch at his heart as realisation dawned on him and he carried on blinking and rubbing and nothing was working. His breathing started to increase and he felt his heart thudding in fear. He shook himself and mentally gave himself a slap. He was Zen. He didn't get scared.

Of course, he'd never been blind before either.


	3. Chapter 3

_Ta daa! Ta for the reviews, they are very special to me, you lovely, lovely people. _

He reached up behind his head and around his pillow, he followed wires but found nothing. He knew the nurse button was meant to be around him somewhere.

This was just typical of Jackie, always thinking of herself and rushing off without helping him. Did he have to do everything himself?

He sighed in relief as he found the button and pushed more times than was strictly necessary. He wasn't scared he was just…they probably wanted to know he was awake.

"Hyde!" Foreman's voice burst into the room.

Oh thank God, he wasn't alone anymore.

"Oh Steven!" Mrs Foreman shrill voice blocked Eric's.

"Oh, what have you done to yourself now?" Red's gruff voice came from further off. Hyde could hear them all shuffling into the room and rushing over the bed. It sounded like they were all here.

"Hyde, what happened?" Donna asked from next to him. "You're all burnt!"

"Gee, great detective skills, Nancy Drew," Hyde scoffed then instantly became more serious. "Did you guys see, Jackie? She left my room a bit upset,"

Foreman's answer was cut off by another pair of footsteps entering the room. They were squeaky against the polished floor and a breath of wind trickled over Hyde's face as the new person leant over him.

"Steven, my name is Doctor Barns, open your eyes for me," He had even realised he'd shut them but he did as he was told. The room watched as Doctor Barns shined a small pen light into his eyes and waved a hand over Hyde's face a couple of times. Hyde sat unfazed and unblinking and Eric suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realised what that could mean. "Tell me exactly what you can see," the Doctor ordered.

"He's blind!?" Donna yelled in shock while helpfully voicing every else's thoughts. Hyde smiled at the sound of Donna's outrage and hopefully to quell the little fit Mrs Foreman was most likely having.

"Oh no," Eric said quietly.

"My poor baby!" Kitty whimpered.

Hyde sighed and rolled his eyes but soon discovered that it hurt to do that and stopped. "Will you guys relax? You're acting as if I'm going to die," he scoffed then he spoke in a quieter voice to the Doctor. "I'm not going to die, right?"

He heard the Doctor give a deep throaty chuckle from above his head and Hyde suddenly had this image of a Santa Claus type figure giving a friendly 'Ho ho'. "No, no," Doctor Barns said cheerfully. "Now, Steven, what exactly can you see?" he repeated.

"Black," Hyde said simply.

"Is it totally black?" he questioned.

"No, more of a blotchy, greyish, black," Hyde answered obediently.

"Any distinguishable shapes or movement?"

"No shapes, some movement,"

"Right," Doctor Barns said with a sense of finality in his tone. "It's likely that this is temporary. We cleaned as much soot and debris out of his eyes as we could but without more evasive surgery we wouldn't be able to get any more. Now, we could do surgery but he would have to wear patches over his eyes for the same amount of time than if we just let the eyes clean and repair themselves over time. My recommendation is to let nature do it's work with a little help from eye drops than considering something as risky as surgery,"

The room was quiet as people soaked in the information then Eric asked the question they were avoiding. "What if the blindness is not temporary?"

"Well, then surgery wont help but the eye drops will make the eyes more comfortable quickly," The Doctor looked around the room at the worried and upset faces then turned back to Hyde. "This is ultimately your choice, Steven,"

"I don't want surgery," Hyde said firmly and decisively. "Just give me the eye drops and let me go home," He just wanted to get out of this stupid hospital gown and back in the basement, in his own jeans and t-shirt, watching stupid TV… _listening _to stupid TV shows. He just wanted to forget this day ever happened.

"We can't let you go home yet, Steven," Doctor Barns said regretfully. "You need to stay here so the nurses can dress your burns for a few days until they get healed enough for you or somebody else to be able to deal with them,"

"But, Mom, you're a nurse. Wouldn't it be alright if he was left under her care?" Eric asked as he gestured to the small woman currently fussing over Steven's hospital gown.

"Oh yes! That would be perfect!" Kitty pleaded with the Doctor, grasping her hands together.

"Well, yes, then!" Doctor Barns chuckled "That would be fine, let me just get the forms and you're free to go. You're going to need some cream for the burns and, of course, the eye drops,"

"Oh yeeey!" Kitty exclaimed "Steven, myself, Doctor Barns and Mr Foreman are leaving the room now," she informed him clearly and loudly and Hyde gave a half-hearted wave.

Hyde heard the scrapping of chairs as Eric and Donna pulled up a seat next to his bed. They sat quietly for a few seconds then Foreman spoke.

"You look terrible, man,"

Hyde resisted the urge to roll his eyes again and instead settled for glaring in what he thought was Eric's direction.

"Thanks, Foreman,"

"I'm still confused about what happened," Donna said.

"Jackie hasn't told you?" Hyde asked.

"No, she just ran past us and didn't say anything," Eric said with a confused tone.

"Ok, I'm going to tell you what happened before she corrupts it with any girly romantic stuff…"

_What happened._

"_Steven, just one more shop," Jackie pleaded with him "It'll be really quick and we can even get something for you!"_

_Before Hyde could answer the little brunette was tugging at his arm and pulling him over towards the store filled with what only could be cheerleaders and jocks. There were pinks, yellows, frills, flowers everywhere and Hyde screwed his face up in disgust._

"_Jackie! I'm not going in there!" Hyde protested furiously._

"_Why not?" she spun round and put her hands on her hips. This was one of her favourite stores, after all and they weren't leaving until she had bought at least one item from their rails. _

"_I beat up people who go into those stores, they're all squares," he said simply and glared at a jock who was laughing at him and Jackie fighting over a store._

"_I go into those stores, are you going to beat up me, Steven?"_

"_Jackie, don't be stupid," Hyde sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "We've been here for an hour now, let's go home,"_

_Jackie looked at him and his total reluctance to stay or spend any time with her. She'd only got him to go with her with the promise she would leave him alone. Maybe, she really wasn't good enough for him. "Do you think I'm a square?" she asked angrily._

"_Jackie, you are the definition of square!" Hyde yelled. "Come on, let's go," He turned to leave but Jackie grabbed his wrist painfully. She was quite strong for a little thing._

"_Ok, Steven," Jackie said "You don't have to go into the store. Just stay here and I'll be back really soon,"_

"'_Soon' to you could mean anything," Hyde said irritably. _

"_10 minutes,"_

"_Fine," Hyde warned "I'll be right here, if you're not back in 10 minutes, I'm leaving without you,"_

_Five minutes later Jackie ran out of the store, looking ecstatic, and bounded over towards Hyde. He regarded her carefully and suddenly got this sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach when he registered her sparkling eyes and jittery composure._

"_Why are you so happy?" he asked carefully._

"_You think I'm a square?" she challenged with a glint in her eye. "I just shoplifted a sweater," she said holding the disgusting pink thing in the air proudly._

_Hyde's head fell into his hands, he was getting one hell of a headache. He knew what the cause of it was but no matter what he did he couldn't seem to get rid of it. He glared pointedly at Jackie, willing her just to disappear. "Put it back!" he whispered pushing the sweater out of sight. _

"_No!" she said stubbornly. _

"_Jackie, you are too good to be shoplifting sweaters," he said "You don't want to turn into someone like me,"_

"_Maybe I do!"_

"_Jackie-"_

"_There she is!" they were interrupted by shout from across the mall. Hyde swivelled to see two mall cops sprinting at high speed towards. Crap._

"_Ok, Jackie, I'll just tell them I took…Jackie?!" he turned around again to see Jackie sprinting away in the opposite direction. "She is going to kill me," he muttered to himself and gave chase after her, catching up to her quickly and grabbing her arm to make her speed up._

_They jumped around a corner and barrelled through some surprised shoppers who immediately sprung out the way of the two cops. Hyde pulled Jackie left and right, concentrating wholly on getting them to an exit when Jackie started laughing gleefully next him. Hyde rolled his eyes and started to chuckle. Cheerleaders._

_They spun round a corner and came to a dead end with a single shop and a door going off to the left._

"_Do you think that could be a fire exit?" Jackie gasped while patting down her hair and looking towards the door to the left._

"_Only one way to find out," Hyde said and flung open the door and pushed Jackie and himself inside a rather spacious room filled with crates, pipes and a large boiler. They stood catching their breath for a few seconds and waited for the door to swing open and reveal two pissed off cops. They waited but it never came._

"_That was fun!" Jackie said cheerfully. "Can we do it again?" _

_Hyde snapped his attention to Jackie to see if she was being serious and was ecstatically happy to see an impish grin spread over her face. _

_Hyde started laughing in short gasps as he struggled to return his breathing to normal. Jackie's high-pitched giggling rung around the metal room and she fell against him to rest against his chest as she fought her own battle with her breathing. He had to admit, it felt nice to have her nestled against him, he brought an arm round her waist to keep her upright and tried to ignore the fluttering in his stomach as she shook with laughter against his side. _

_She brought herself upright and found herself to be entirely too close to Hyde for his liking. All of a sudden it was way too hot in that room and it had nothing to do with the boiler. Then she had to do something so heinous, so evil that it should be made illegal when you are this close to someone you hate with a passion._

_She licked her lips._

_Small pink tip flicked out of her mouth and covered her full lip for a split second before darting back into her mouth. It was _pure torture_. She was doing it on purpose._

_Suddenly the acoustics in the room became different and Hyde stopped staring at her mouth long enough to check the room. Something was hissing and rattling. He looked to right but the dim light in the room made it hard to tell where the sound was coming from._

"_Steven?"_

"_Jackie, be quiet!" he hushed her._

"_What-"_

"_Shut your pie hole!" he shouted then caught sight of the pressure gage on the large boiler. He was no expert but red was not good in any language and the steam billowing from the joints couldn't mean anything but disaster. The sound filled their ears as pipes burst around them and a high pitched whistling filled the air. Hyde took Jackie's shoulders and shoved her behind a crate just before a huge bang shook the room. Jackie screamed and covered her ears as she heard Hyde yell out in pain and saw him get thrown across the room. Soot filled the air and the fire alarm started blaring, drowning out the sounds of Jackie's sobs._

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"You're going to have to ask Jackie what happened after that because I had other things on my mind," Hyde finished.

"Oh Hyde, she thinks it's all her fault," Donna said. "She looked really upset,"

"Well, it is all her fault!" Hyde said, forgetting the Zen for the time being as anger took over. "If she hadn't stolen that stupid sweater I wouldn't be sitting here like a cripple, feeling around in the dark!"

He closed his eyes again, not seeing any point in keeping them open and laid back in his bed.

"Hyde!" Donna shouted furiously "This is _not_ her fault! I understand that something terrible has happened to you but taking it out on Jackie isn't going to help anyone,"

Suddenly the door burst open and Kelso and Fez tumbled into the room.

"Hyde!!" Kelso yelled. "You've got to_ see_ the nurses they have here!!"

"Someone hit him for me," Hyde sighed.

A very satisfying 'Ow' filled the room and Hyde smiled.

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	4. Chapter 4

_Heya! I'm going away for the weekend so I thought I'd give you another chapter. It's extra long for me so read it slow cus there won't be another one til Tuesday. Thank for the reviews._

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"Now, Steven, here's the last step. That's great!" Kitty laughed as she guided Hyde down the basement stairs. Her fingers digging into his elbow and an arm around his shoulders, squeezing him in a protective embrace. It had been slow going getting from the hospital to the house. He stumbled more than twice, the burns around his joints stung and pulled with a vengeance. Every time he tripped or winced at a particularly painful movement, he could hear the gasps and sounds of sympathy echo around him, it was almost as bad as if he could see their pitying faces. Even Kelso had stopped having a go at him.

Donna and Eric had spread the story of his accident around and now just about everyone knew what had happened. Kitty had rambled on about the romance, Red sufficed with his usual comment of 'Dumbass', Kelso was upset that he'd missed out on the fun and Fez rambled about how he knew, all along, that something had gone wrong. Eric and Donna had stopped all protests about the way he had treated Jackie and had gone for the popular sympathy act.

Kitty sat him in his chair and fussed over straightening his hospital gown so it covered his knees.

"Mrs Foreman?" Hyde reached out and stopped her hands. He had never noticed how smooth her hands were. She must moisturise or something. "Can I wear my own clothes?" he asked tiredly. It had been a long day and longed to have his zeppelin t-shirt on and a nice pair of jeans.

Mrs Foreman patted his hand lovingly and looked up at his unfocused eyes and got a little upset with herself. It was her job to take care of him, after all, and she had failed miserably. His blue eyes were cloudy and he was looking a little too far to her left to be really looking at her but he was trying to appear normal for her sake. "Of course, Steven!" she said in a stronger voice than she thought she could have managed. "You're going to have to wear shorts, though. Those burns may be a bit uncomfortable under denim," she laughed her signature laugh and left for his room.

He was left alone. It was strange to think he had woken up this morning healthy and watching TV and in the same day come home with burns and a lost sight. He didn't even know what time it was, maybe it was the next day.

He let the events of the day wash over him and suddenly he felt exhausted.

Kitty came back into the room to find Steven asleep in his chair.

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Jackie fell unceremoniously onto her bed and watched as the duvet wafted up from underneath her. The maid had been in and taken her laundry and made the bed she had just jumped onto. It was late now, nobody was home. She hugged her pillow and burrowed her face into the soft material.

This morning her head had been filled with thoughts and plans on making Steven fall in love with her now she wanted to forget that she'd even walked into that basement this morning, even started staring at him.

There were no tears left to cry, exhausted from the days events she tried to sleep but every time she closed her eyes she saw Steven's outline fly across that dark room like a rag doll and hit the far wall with such force that there could have been no doubt in her mind that he had died. For a few, tortured, incredibly long minutes today she had sworn Steven had died. That through her own stupid acts she had killed one of her closest friends.

She sprang up in her bed and shook herself out of her dark thoughts. Steven was alive. Everything was going to be fine. The best thing she could do for Steven right now is to do as he asks and leave him alone and forget this stupid crush thing. So that was what she was going to do.

Then, hopefully after a while she can start hanging out in the basement again and she can prove to him that she could be a good friend. Jackie flicked on her bedside lamp and picked up the mirror beside her bed. For the first time in a long while she took a good, long look at herself and for once she didn't see a pretty young girl with perfect hair and cute, little lips. This time she saw troublesome, stupid, little girl that brought more hurt than joy. No wonder her parents didn't like to spend any time with her.

That was it. She smashed the mirror, face down. She was changing. No more was Jackie Burkhart going to be selfish or bossy. She was going to be a friend.

A friend would want to know how he is; Jackie glanced at the phone on her bedside then at the clock. It wasn't too late. She grabbed the receiver and dialled the number.

"_Hello?_" a voice asked groggily.

"Donna!" Jackie said excitedly.

"_Jackie! It's two in the morning!"_ Donna said angrily _"Oh God. What's happened now?"_

"Nothing, you lumberjack!" Jackie replied then went silent. Something that was very unusual for the small cheerleader. "Um... Donna? Do you know if Steven's alright?" she asked timidly.

Donna sighed and decided to forgive Jackie for waking her up so early. _"The last I saw, he was doing fine. He's moving around a little stiffly but the doctor said he should heal nicely. His eyes are still questionable, it's a wait and see thing,"_

"Wait, Donna! What's wrong with his eyes?"

The other end of the line was silent for a little while. _"I'm sorry, Jackie, I thought you knew."_ Donna said awkwardly. The larger girl took a deep sigh and considered the best way to break it to Jackie. "_He's lost his sight, he can hardly see,"_ Donna said softly.

Jackie froze; it felt as if something had clutched her heart and stopped it beating momentarily. "But it's coming back, right?" she asked shakily.

"_We're not sure,"_ Donna said sadly _"The Doctor was… optimistic,"_

"Donna, this is terrible," Jackie said sadly. Steven was never going to let her near him again.

"_It's not too bad, Hyde's already getting used to moving around and…it's going to fine,"_ Donna said firmly.

"Thanks Donna," Jackie said "I'm going to bed,"

"_Goodnight, Jackie,"_ she said kindly. _"Remember, none of this is your fault,"_

"Goodnight,"

Forget about this leaving him alone thing, he needed her now. Stephen was just going to suck it up. She was coming round tomorrow and she wasn't leaving until he either forgave her or resigned himself to her care. Nobody was going to regret taking Jackie Burkhart to the mall.

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"Steven?" a small hand clutched shoulder and shook it slightly. "Steven?" the voice whispered.

It couldn't possibly be time to wake up; he'd only just got to sleep. It took him half the night trying to find a comfortable position that didn't irritate his burns, then Mrs Foreman woke him up to put eye drops and now she was here again in his room shaking him awake again.

"It's morning, sleepy head!" Mrs Foreman said gleefully. "Get up because I've got to re dress your burns then get you changed!"

He heard her puttering around his room, tidying various things away for a few moments then her shuffling stopped. "Call me when you are ready. I'M LEAVING THE ROOM NOW STEVEN," she shouted as if yelling it at him would help him visualise it better.

"Thanks, Mrs Foreman,"

The first morning without his sight wasn't pleasant to say the least. He stubbed his toes on door frames, furniture, 'Star Wars' toys and generally anything that got in the way. He fell over no less than six times and broke many valuable Lego toys, much to the dismay of Eric. In an hour, Hyde just about managed to have a wash and navigate his way to his chair in the basement.

"Alright Steven, I've got the cream for your burns and the eye drops," Kitty laughed as she moved to kneel down in front of him.

"I'm going to get breakfast," Eric said. Hyde could hear the fabric of the old couch shift as his friend lifted his weight from it. "Hyde, do you want me to get you something?" he asked as his footsteps echoed their way to the stairs. Hyde flicked his eyes in Foreman's direction out of habit then simply shook his head. He didn't want to become a complete cripple; he could get his own breakfast.

Kitty's hand squeezed his knee in silent understanding then she waited for Eric to get fully up the stairs before helping him to get his shirt off. Thankfully Kitty was quick, silent and professional. She was gentle and never made him feel like he was invalid; she let him do some things on his own and took over when Hyde was ready to give up.

Hyde had thought that this would take forever but it was over before he could get irritated with the constant fussing and touching. In fact, he was quite surprised when Mrs Foreman announced that they were all done.

"Really?" Hyde said.

"Yup!" Mrs Foreman laughed. "Now, I'll get you some clothes. Anything you'd particularly like to wear?"

"Jeans?" Hyde asked hopefully. Mrs Foreman laughed as her heels clopped along the wooden floor and into his room. She came back quickly and placed the clothes in his lap.

"Now, I've put your t-shirt with the strange mouth logo on the top, you've got a pair of _shorts_ under that and socks on the bottom of the pile," Kitty said placing his hand on each item as she listed them. "I'm going to cook you a _big _breakfast so you get healthy quickly. Call me if you need help with anything,"

"Mrs Foreman, you don't need to do this for me," Hyde protested. "I could get my own breakfast,"

"I know I don't _need_ to, Steven!" Kitty said brightly. From the sound of her voice she was already at the foot of the basement stairs. "I _want_ to do it! I'M LEAVING THE BASEMENT NOW!"

Hyde picked up the neatly folded clothes and carried them to his room, managing to remember where the step was and judge exactly where the entrance to his room was. He walked through the door and sat down on his bed. He grinned when he realised he hadn't stubbed one toe. Maybe it wasn't going to be that bad after all. He could get used to this, it wasn't that hard anyway, and as long as nobody moved any furniture he pretty much knew the basement like the back of his hand.

He struggled with the shorts first, awkwardly using the un-burnt hand to pull and tug at the material until he had them around his waist. It took some adjusting to make sure the waistband wasn't rubbing against a particularly painful burn. He tried buttoning his fly but the fingers on his right hand weren't co-operating. Bending and manoeuvring seemed to be beyond the heavily bandaged limb. He swore at the shorts and cursed his stupid hand, he _so _didn't want to ask anyone to help him button his fly. He couldn't even see why buttoning with just his left hand wasn't working.

He gave up on the shorts and turned to try his shirt but couldn't remember where he put the pile down.

"Crap,"

He placed his hand on the bed and felt around on the rough surface of the blanket but misinterpreted where the end of the bed was and kicked the leg of the small cot. He gasped in pain as the burn protested against impact of the metal then as he moved backwards hit his head on the sloping ceiling.

"Shit,"

Hyde opted for just standing still for a moment to get his bearings back. This wasn't fun anymore. He found the bed again and sat down. As he was just about to consider giving up, his foot hit some material on the floor. He picked it up to find his t-shirt and a pair of socks. Fine, he could do this. Lots of people before him had managed to overcome this, people not as Zen as he was. If they could do it then he could definitely manage to put a t-shirt on.

After a few painful minutes, Hyde decided that he couldn't even manage to put a t-shirt on. In fact, he was quite certain that the hole he currently had his burnt arm through was actually for his head.


	5. Chapter 5

_Well, here's the next instalment, I realise it's not Tuesday yet but Monday, Tuesday, Monday, they sound basically the same. About smut. I realise some of you might be expecting it but I have never written smut in my life and it would probably turn out horribly. So that's a no. I hope none of you are discouraged from reading now I've said this. It is going to be good. I promise. I can still write sexy kisses so you have that to look forward to.  
_

_Thanks for the reviews, as always, they make my day. Again, anything that gets on your nerves, tell me, I'll fix it. Ta!_

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Jackie walked timidly to the basement door and poked her head through to find nobody around. Not even Eric. Normally, at least one person would be in the basement at any given time but she supposed it was still kind of early for the gang to be around. She walked silently to the couch and fell down into its familiar cushions and smell. Hyde's chair had been moved to its usual position after he had turned it around the other day to avoid her gaze. She could be kind of annoying, she admitted to herself.

A crash and a yell from Hyde's room brought herself back to her purpose in the small dingy basement.

"Stupid T-shirt!" she heard him yell then another crash as some poor unsuspecting object got thrown across the room.

Jackie got up quickly and scuttled across to his room where she found Hyde sitting on the bed tangled in his 'Rolling Stones' T-shirt, his arm sticking out of the neck and his head somewhere in the dark depths of the material. He stopped struggling and turned his head in the direction of the door making her feel a bit guilty for being around to watch him dress.

"Who's there?" he asked "I swear, if it's you Kelso, I'm not too handicapped to kick your ass,"

"No, it's me, Steven," Jackie said quietly.

"Oh great," he muttered.

"Well, look at the mess you've got yourself in!" she said with borrowed confidence.

"Leave me alone," he said grumpily.

"What and leave you to wrestle with your t-shirt?" she asked huffily and crossed the room in a couple of strides. She pulled the shirt up over his head, gently as it not touch the burns and arranged it so he wasn't putting it on backwards.

"Hey! I was doing just fine with that!" he argued, holding his hand out to take the shirt back from her.

Jackie looked at him and opened her mouth to burn him but stopped when she realised that he wasn't looking directly at her nor was his hand pointing in her direction. He was blind. Donna had told her, of course, but there was a big difference in being told and actually seeing for yourself. She looked down at her feet as she felt another surge of guilt suffocate her heart. "Yes, I could tell, you were doing wonderfully," she said with a little less sharpness than she had originally intended. "Now hold your arms out," she ordered.

"Seriously, Jackie!" Hyde said "I had got my shorts on and everything!"

"You haven't even buttoned them yet!"

"I was getting round to it!"

"Hold your arms out," she repeated.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone!" Hyde shouted.

Jackie huffed out an aggravated sigh. "Look, Steven. I'm going to be your friend and give you a little help and it'll be so much easier on everyone if you just accept that because I'm going to be around a lot!"

Hyde stared up at her in his unfocused way. She decided she didn't like this feeling of guilt; she'd never to deal with it before. Why, all of a sudden, did she grow a conscience?

"Fine," he huffed out.

She decided it was probably Donna's bad influence on her.

"Good, now, hold your arms out,"

He complied and she gently guided his arms into the right holes and pulled the shirt over his head. A sickening scent of chestnut wafted over him as she leant to pull the t-shirt down his back. Girls and their shampoo, he scoffed.

"Stand up," she ordered as she moved away from him, taking the intoxicating mix of chestnut and something he couldn't place with her.

He stood up and jolted as her hand pressed his head away from the sloped ceiling and moved him an inch to his right. Cold hands took the waistband of his shorts roughly.

"Jeez!" he gasped "A little warning next time, your hands are freezing,"

She buttoned his fly quickly and took his hand. "Sorry," she said curtly and pulled him out of his room "Step," she warned and he moved appropriately. "Couch," she warned again and he moved to the side to avoid the piece of furniture. Grabbing his waist she positioned him where she wanted then let go. "Ok, you can sit now," she said sweetly.

Hyde was confused and slightly wary. After what he'd said yesterday he didn't know whether he was going to sit down only to find his ass hit the floor or if she genuinely wanted to help him and had actually brought him to his chair. It sucked to be blind, he concluded as he searched his limited vision for any clue of where he was.

He eventually sat and was pleased to find the familiar cushion beneath him; he smiled at where he thought Jackie was and then relaxed.

"I bought you something," she said and suddenly his hands were filled with the rough texture of a paper bag. He felt around for the opening as he heard Jackie settling herself on the couch next to him.

His hand met with metal and he brought the object out of its paper enclosure. He knew exactly what it was, he'd only been handling them his whole life. He smiled again.

"Thanks Jackie," he said.

"They're exactly the same as your old ones, I searched for them this morning," she said "I'm sorry your other ones got destroyed. That was my fault," There was real regret in her voice. Hyde smiled trying to make Jackie feel better because if he was honest with himself, Donna had been right. It really wasn't Jackie's fault that a boiler exploded. Those types of things were freak accidents; they had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Hyde suddenly _really_ wanted Jackie to know that.

It was a shame he'd never learnt how to properly comfort people so he just did what Mrs Foreman did to comfort him. He reached out and squeezed her knee in understanding and waited for her to react. She took his hand and squeezed it back.

He picked up the glasses she had brought him and placed them on his face then held his hands out in a 'how do they look?' gesture.

"Perfect," Jackie said happily.

Thundering from the stairs broke them out of their comfortable companionship and their attention snapped to an excitable Kelso.

"Hyde man!" he yelled. "Me and Fez have been wracking our brains and we've come up with a load of stuff that you can still do if you're blind. It's awesome, man!" he said holding up his thumbs.

"That's great, man," Hyde said, standing up. "But I smell a big breakfast waiting for me upstairs, so, if you'll excuse me,"

Jackie got up quickly and took Hyde's hand to lead the way up the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Steven!" Red's voice echoed in the kitchen. Hyde could almost see in his mind's eye the older man sitting in his usual chair at the table. From the sound of it he was already eating. "You finally got dressed, huh?"

Jackie let go of Hyde's hand and he panicked slightly at the loss of contact. He was being stupid he didn't _need_ Jackie to take care of him. But there was a lot of noise in the kitchen as Kitty shuffled back and forth, cooking him what smelt like bacon and eggs and…pancakes, there was definitely pancakes.

"Steven did extremely well for the first time dressing blind!" Jackie defended him from further away than he expected her to be.

"Yeah Hyde! You are taking this awesomely!" Kelso said and punched Hyde lightly in the arm and brushed past him roughly. Hyde turned slightly and his foot come in contact with the edge of the counter. He mentally recorded the fact that he couldn't turn right. Apart from that, he had no idea where in the kitchen he was. It was loud, people were talking happily, Kitty was rushing around checking on the sizzling bacon then the sliding door open and Donna joined in the conversation, all the time Hyde stood somewhere looking awkward and lost.

He didn't like looking helpless and lost.

He tried moving towards the voices but only managed to walk into Eric who had just entered the room.

"Whoa! Hyde," Eric said grabbing Hyde's shoulders to stop him falling over. "You ok?"

"Yeah, um could you point me in the direction of the table?" Hyde said feeling completely stupid for not being able to move across a room.

"Guys!" Foreman shouted angrily and the talking stopped, Kitty stopped shuffling and the pans stopped clanging loudly. "Could _none_ of you see Hyde having trouble? He's recently been blinded, or have you all forgotten already?!"

There was an awkward and guilty silence.

"Foreman!" Hyde said crossly "I was fine, ok? I just got a bit confused, is all,"

"Sorry, Steven," Red said gruffly "I guess it's going to take a bit of getting used to, for everyone,"

Suddenly a cold, small hand grabbed his and waft of chestnut invaded his nostrils. He pulled his hand out of her grip and instead let Foreman direct him to a chair and let Mrs Foreman place a plate of food in front of him with a clang and a nervous laugh.

The happy chatter that had enveloped the kitchen just minutes before was completely gone as the family ate their breakfast. Only the occasional scrapes of knives and forks on china interrupted the silence. A chair scraped beside Hyde and Mrs Foreman sat down. He could tell it was her because her floaty skirt brushed briefly over his bare leg.

"How are you doing today, Steven?" she asked kindly.

"Yeah, I mean, it must be a bit of a shock suddenly not be able to see," Foreman added stupidly.

"Oh Steven, we mustn't forget to put those eye drops in," Mrs Foreman told him.

"Hey Hyde, don't you think it's like some kind of weird karma for all the times you hit me in the eye?" Kelso chuckled stupidly.

Hyde stopped his search for a knife and fork and glared in Kelso's vague direction.

"Can we talk about something else?" Hyde asked and continued feeling around on the table until Jackie's small, soft hand grabbed his and placed a knife and fork in them. "Thanks,"

"Sure, Steven," Kitty said "Just remember, any time you want to talk about your…um…your um…"

"Handicap?" he supplied as he took a bite out of the thing he randomly selected off his plate.

"Well any time you want to talk about that, don't hesitate to come to me," she laughed.

"Yeah Hyde, we're here for you," Donna said from the doorway.

"Well, it doesn't matter, right?" he said, swallowing "'cus it's just temporary,"

Hyde mentally sighed as the awkward silence made another appearance.

"But, Hyde, what if it's not?" Eric said timidly.

"Until I get a medical professional tell me it's permanent, I'm going to carry on believing that it's not," he said angrily. "Now because all of you seem incapable of staying off this subject I'm going to the basement. Thank you for the breakfast, Mrs Foreman," Hyde got up and walked a few steps before Jackie once again latched onto his arm and pulled in the right direction.

"But Steven, you've hardly-" Kitty started but realised it was pointless.

"Poor Hyde," Eric said once Hyde and Jackie left.

"I think he's taking this whole thing brilliantly," Red said picking up his cutlery and continuing his meal.

"What? By bottling up his feelings?!" Donna said and came further into the room to stand next to Eric.

"Donna, Steven is just not the type of guy who spills his guts to every Tom, Dick and Harry," Red said.

"Oh! But we're his _family_ Red! We're all he's got," Kitty implored, shaking her curls anxiously. "Eric, maybe you could talk to him?"

Eric chuckled derisively "I value my life, mom,"


	6. Chapter 6

_I apologise for my overwhelming britishness. You have now idea how many times I had to change the words in this story to make it sound like they were actually American. I probably still have loads of extra 'u's and 's's where there should be 'z's but hey what can you do? You know what I mean, right?_

_Ta for the reviews._

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"Can you believe those jerks? You said you didn't want to talk about it but they went on and on," Jackie chattered as she sat him down in his chair. "It's like when you're at the salon and you say 'I want a feathered cut' but then they got on about the latest fashions, like they know _anything_ about fashion and you go 'No, I just want a feathered cut' but they just carry on about their stupid magazine, you know?"

"Yes?" Hyde said to please her as her voice got further away then closer as she moved around the basement to get the freezer.

"Do you want a popsicle?" she asked.

"No thanks,"

"Okay, so, I saw the mall on the way over here this morning and there's like a huge whole in the wall of that crappy clothes shop. So, I think we did it a public service, because the clothes in there were really tacky," she said as her skirt wafted past Hyde's arm, he heard her fall onto the couch and turn to face him. "Do you want the TV on or anything? I mean, I know you can't watch it but you could listen?"

Hyde looked sceptical "I wouldn't know what the hell was going on," he said.

"It could be funny," Jackie said with a thoughtful tone. It was the same tone she got when she was planning something. The last time he'd heard that tone it was while she was saying 'Well, I'm alone and you're alone…' and everyone knew how that turned out.

_5 minutes later…_

"This is stupid," Hyde said as he listened to 'Gilligan's Island'. "Are you really wearing a blindfold?"

Jackie shifted on the couch and scratched at the itchy material covering her face. "Yes,"

'_Well try him Professor! Try him again!'_ blared from the TV and both Jackie and Hyde started laughing.

"I've just realised how crap this show is," Hyde said. They resigned to listening to the Professor try and read someone's mind for a few minutes then Hyde got suspicious. "You're not really blindfolded, are you? You just wanted to watch TV,"

"I am so blindfolded!" Jackie protested.

"No you can't be because that would mean that Jackie Burkhart was looking foolish on purpose. Everyone knows that's not possible,"

'_Yes I know, I know my dear, it's, it's so revolting!'_

'_Maybe it's the shape of Gilligan's head.'_

Hyde suddenly snapped his attention to the TV. "What the hell is going on?" he laughed "You have to be stoned to just listen to this show,"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Jackie giggled.

"Are you really wearing a blindfold?" Hyde continued.

"Yes!" Jackie said defiantly "If you don't believe me, feel for yourself," Without thinking, she grabbed his hands and placed them on her face.

Slightly shocked at his new predicament he did what came naturally and felt around the blindfold and her cheeks. The rough, woollen texture of the material acting as the blindfold contrasted greatly against the silkiness of her hair and skin. His callused thumbs drew a line down the middle of her nose while his fingers threaded into the hair around her ears and her neck.

She always had the smoothest hair.

The blindfold stopped just before the tip of her button nose and his thumb found itself dipped into the space above her top lip.

He felt her smile beneath his touch.

He was brought to his senses when he realised just exactly what he was doing. There was something to using his hands and touch to create an image in his mind. He swore he could see her giving him a grin and arching her eyebrow in a questioning but friendly way.

"Sorry," he said and quickly sat back in the chair he hadn't realised he'd got out of.

"No, it's fine," she said in a hushed voice as she got her heart rate under control then to break the tension she said "So, do I feel as cute as I look?"

"You're hopeless," Hyde chuckled.

She _was_ hopeless, she agreed silently. "Steven, I'm really sorry I let go of you in the kitchen earlier. I wasn't thinking," Jackie said quickly. "It will _never_ happen again,"

Well, that was unexpected. Jackie was one hell of a rollercoaster of emotions. He didn't even have any warning anymore. Normally he could tell when she was about become serious or become light-hearted by her body language. Going by her voice or what her hair smelt like wasn't really enough information. Maybe she'd let him do the touching/seeing thing while they were having a conversation.

Did he honestly just admit to wanting to touch Jackie more often? He was probably brain-damaged from the blast.

Shouldn't worry too much about it …… right?

"Jackie, I had already forgotten about it," he said dismissively.

"It's just, this whole thing is my fault and I should have been paying attention. This whole thing must be really scary for you and I just left you-"

"Scared? Who said anything about being scared? I'm not scared," Hyde said heatedly.

"Steven, you can't see! It must be the tiniest bit frightening!"

"Jackie! I don't want to talk about this!" he shouted and got up out of his chair, he moved to start the journey to his room but she grabbed his arm before he could get away.

"Ok, ok! I'm sorry. Just stay and watch TV. I'll shut up,"

"Really?"

"Yes, I promise,"

"_You_ are going to shut up?" he asked as he sat down again.

"Maybe,"

"Good," he said and settled himself to listening to Gilligan mess up.

"Have you done your eye drops?" Jackie asked.

She couldn't even last one minute.

"No," Hyde said grumpily.

"Well, where are they? I'll do them for you," he heard her shuffle off the couch then search around the basement, lifting up magazines and leaning on the dryer.

"I don't know," Hyde said tiredly. "It doesn't matter,"

"Found them!" Jackie said triumphantly.

"Yipee!" he said sarcastically.

"Take off your glasses," she said "Do you want me to do them or do you want to?" she kneeled in front of him and placed her hand on his thigh to get his attention.

"I'll do it," he said and she took his hand and placed the bottle in his palm.

"It says not to blink afterwards and to make sure you get it right in your eye by holding the lids open," she instructed him.

He unscrewed the lid of the bottle and took off his glasses. Then felt around the nozzle of the bottle then tried keeping his eye open with his left hand but for some reason he could not figure out where his eye was in relation to his hand and ended up missing and getting his cheek.

He scowled at the muffled sound of giggling from the far end of the couch. "Real mature," he said "Laugh at the blind guy,"

"Sorry," she said "Carry on,"

He tried again, this time he got closer to his eye but he was off by an inch. Again, muffled giggles travelled from the general couch area.

"Fine! You do it!" he gave up and held up the bottle for her to take.

She snatched it up and approached him sending another wave of chestnut in his direction.

"Ok, I'm going to open your eye now," she warned him as her hand moved his head to the side and pulled a lid open. "Ready? It probably sting,"

"Get on with it, Jackie," he was never going to get used to people having to help him, most of all, Jackie.

A cold liquid dropped into his eye and suddenly he felt like it was on fire. He pulled away from Jackie and squeezed his eye shut in pain.

"Ow!" he yelled.

She let go quickly as he slapped a hand to his face. That _really_ stung!

"I told you it would sting!" she yelped.

"This isn't stinging! This is hot pokers to the eye!!" Hyde screamed.

"What's going on?" Fez's voice came from the stairs. "Oh my God! Jackie is trying to kill Hyde!"

"What?" Eric questioned as he thundered down the stairs and joined in the commotion. Kelso and Donna followed him and they all stood and watched as Jackie berated the howling Hyde.

"You're being a baby! Now hold still so I can get to the other eye!" she said.

Hyde let go of his face and sat up again and prepared for another brutal attack. "Ok. Let me have it," he gritted his teeth and almost turned away again but Jackie lightly slapped his cheek lightly in disapproval.

Another drop sinked into his eye.

"OW!! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!" he said and blinked a few times.

"You're not allowed to blink, Steven!" Jackie yelled.

"I don't care!"

"It'll come out!"

"Good!" Hyde yelled as her hand grabbed his face and held his eyes open. "Get off!"

"Just a few more seconds," she said.

"No! NOW!"

She let go and sat back down on the couch as the rest of the group moved cautiously further into the room.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life," Eric stuttered and sat furthest away from Jackie on the couch, he carefully placed Donna in between him and the terrifying, little tyrant.

Kelso skipped gormlessly into the room and stood in front of Hyde and Fez came and stood next to him.

"So…," Kelso said.

Hyde felt around and found his glasses on the floor, he picked them up and placed them back onto his face before looking up at Kelso and sighing.

"So?" Hyde prompted. Knowing Kelso it was probably something stupid.

"So…are you really blind?" Kelso chuckled in his stupid way. Hyde flung out his good leg and smirked as he felt it collide with Kelso shin. "OW! You see, 'cause when you can still do that, it makes me wonder whether you're telling the whole truth!" he said indignantly.

Fez flung out and frogged Kelso's arm with an angry look on his face.

"Ow! Why is everyone hurting me?!" Kelso said unhappily and collapsing onto the arm of the couch in a huge sulk.

"That is not what we agreed to ask him!" Fez said resentfully. "Hyde?" he addressed Hyde who sighed in a world-weary way.

"Yes, Fez?"

"So, are you _completely_ blind?" Fez asked seriously.

"Fez, how is that any better than Kelso's question?"Eric asked.

"We need to know so we know how to act!" Fez defended himself.

"No, I'm not _completely_ blind but I still can't distinguish anything," Hyde said to the room, hoping that this piece of information may, just may get them to _stop asking questions._ They were beginning to get on his nerves and, quite frankly, he thought he'd been through enough that would warrant a little time to himself. A little relaxation. Instead he has his own Jackie-slave following him around sticking painful liquid in his eyes and a group of morons who leave him in the middle of a busy kitchen and just won't stop talking about his blindness and how permanent it might be.

"Good," Fez said happily.

Huh? How was that good?

"Kelso and I would like to play Marco Polo," Fez said "_You_ are it!"

"Well, that's sounds fun," Hyde said sarcastically. "But I think I'd like to be alone for a while,"

He got up and mentally pictured the route to his room and made his way across the basement until he heard little footsteps start to follow him.

"Jackie," Hyde said as he turned around to face her. "Alone, means alone. No-one else. _Don't _follow me,"

"You see?" Kelso voice came from the couch. "That's freaky! He's looking right at her."

Hyde rolled his eyes and continued his path to his room.


	7. Chapter 7

_Short but sweet. More later. Thanks for the reviews!_

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"Fez!" Jackie yelled when Hyde had finally closed the door to his room. "How could you be so insensitive!?"

The little cheerleader flounced back to the main part of the basement and crossed her arms angrily across her chest. Donna, sensing a good argument, leaped to Jackie's side and folded into a similar stance.

"Yeah guys!" Donna yelled in agreement.

"We were not being insensitive!" Kelso argued and stood up to join Fez. "We spent ages thinking of stuff we could still do with a blind person! Look we have a list," Kelso fished in his pocket and brought out a tattered strip of paper with scrawled handwriting littering it.

Eric snatched the list out of Kelso's hand and began to read.

"Kelso, half of this paper is covered with games of 'hangman' and you've only written two games down," Eric said.

"They're good games!" Kelso said snatching the list away from Eric.

"Marco Polo and Hide and Seek??" Eric said flinging his arms out in a questioning manner.

"How is Hyde meant to play hide and seek?" Donna asked.

Kelso opened his mouth to reply but logical thinking got the best of him again. "Oh, right," he said.

"This is all your fault!" Fez screamed and started hitting the taller boy.

"Ow! Fez!! It was your idea!!" Kelso protested as her protected himself from Fez's weak punches.

"No it wasn't, you idiot!! This was all your idea!"

"Guys!!" Jackie said as she pulled them apart. "Steven just doesn't want anything change, that includes any games!"

"Yeah! He doesn't want to be treated any differently!" Donna approved.

"But he's _blind_," Kelso said as if that explained everything. Michael looked around at the blank faces. "He's got to be treated differently otherwise he'll keep walking into things!" he explained.

Donna and Jackie both opened their mouths to argue but then they realised something terrifying. Kelso was right.

An agitated Fez looked from an angry Kelso to the thoughtful girls then to the puzzled Eric and stamped his foot in frustration.

"So how are we meant to treat him??" he whined pitifully.

"I'm going to see how he is," Jackie said.

"Jackie," Donna said and grabbed the younger girl's arm. "Maybe you should wait awhile,"

Jackie nodded and the whole gang settled into their places within the basement and waited for time when either Jackie would go and check on him or Hyde actually came out be himself, however unlikely that may seem.

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"Steven," a voice cooed from his doorway. Oh no, no, he was not getting up just to be gawked at and pitied. No thank you. It wasn't his thing. He wasn't that kind of guy.

Whoever was at the door was going to be sorely disappointed because he wasn't budging.

"Steven, come on!" Oh great, it was Jackie. He pulled his bedcovers of his head and squashed a pillow firmly against his ear. "Oh, real mature, Steven," she said.

Hyde didn't care, as far as he was concerned, he had the right to be a little childish. After all, she been acting like a child since the moment they had met.

"Steven," she tugged at the pillow he had so firmly pressed against his ear then gave up and sat at the side of his bed. "Steven," she repeated but this time her voice was sadder and deeper. She didn't sound so much like a child anymore.

He removed the pillow from his face but still obsessively hid beneath the old blanket.

"Why do you pretend you don't like me?" she asked. He could feel her moving around on the bed, he wasn't quite sure what she was doing but it unnerved him none the less.

"You're a bit sure of yourself, aren't you?" he scoffed. Something hit the floor with a clop. He was certain that the sound was her shoes. Her body shifted again.

"Why did you push me out the way of the blast?"

"I would have done that if anybody was standing next to-"

"Why did you take me to the mall?"

"You wouldn't leave me alone!"

"How about the other time? Why did you take me then?"

"You were buying me food," Hyde's heart beat began to race as he felt a rush of cold air as the blanket was lifted up quickly followed by the warmth of her body getting under the covers next to him. "What are you doing?"

"You want me here," she said simply.

"How do you know I want you here?" he challenged.

"Because you think I'm hot. Because you like me. Because your mouth goes dry when I touch you," her fingers shocked him as he suddenly felt them rake through his hair. "Because you like to touch me,"

Hyde suddenly had a memory of her smiling under his thumb his fingers running through _her _hair.

"Why don't you just admit that you like me?" she giggled.

"I…" he started but all the reasons he had thought up before about why this was such a bad idea had disappeared. "…don't know,"

As soon the sentence left his lips her lips arrived to replace it. They were soft. So very soft. Her fingers threaded and played with his hair. It was nice.

She opened her mouth and he responded by deepening the kiss by pulling her head closer to him. One hand on her neck and his mouth itching to devour hers. Where did this come from?

Her tongue darted into his mouth and it nearly sent him over the edge. He got his revenge by letting his own do some exploring. She let out a small moan. It was incredibly sexy. Before he knew what he was doing he had his arms around her body and hers were circled around his shoulders with one hand still firmly entangled in his hair.

Lips crushed against each other, tongues battling and hands roaming meant it came as a surprise when he heard her voice.

"Steven?" she whispered. "Are you awake?"

Hyde jolted awake and almost fell out of his bed.

A bed, he might add, he was thoroughly alone in.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were sleeping," she said quickly.

It was a dream? What kind of deranged, disturbing dream was that?

Jackie's clogs clopped quickly against the hard floor as she hurried to get out of Hyde's room. Her footsteps stopped suddenly and he heard her swivel on her heel.

"Are you alright?" she asked. "'cause you look kind of frightened,"

"No, no, I'm fine," he rasped shakily.

"OK, well, everyone's out in the basement," she said "We've got Fez and Kelso under control so I think it's relatively safe,"

He nodded and rubbed his sore eyes and blinked a few times as he tried to distinguish something, anything in the room. He got nothing though, just black and grey blotches. Not even colours.

"Yeah, so…I'll just leave you alone then," she said

"Wait…uh…Jackie?" he called out. The dream was probably a load of crap; it probably didn't mean anything but Jackie did really seem to want to help him through this whole blind thing. "Why are you …um……being nice?" It was a fair question. Even when she had supposedly had a crush on him she'd never been 'nice'. Even when she was trying to be nice she wasn't actually 'nice'. In fact, she was being down-right selfless recently. It was scary.

"I don't know," she said chirpily. "Guess I just like you,"

"Jackie, I don't feel-"

"Oh God, Steven! Don't worry about me chasing after you anymore," she said quickly. "I realise I was being totally childish, I don't feel that way about you,"

"Oh," he said. For some reason that didn't make him feel any better. Actually, he felt kind of disappointed. "That's great,"

He swung his legs around and sat upright on his bed, he heard her walk across the room and felt the bed shift as it adjusted to her weight.

"I mean," she said "It's cool just being friends with you, after what I did I'm surprised you're even speaking to me,"

Oh great, he could hear the tears in voice. He had to say something nice or he'd have a full-blown weeping Jackie hanging off his shoulder.

"Guess I just like you," he said.

She laughed. He decided he liked that sound. In fact, he could quite happily listen to that all day.

"Could you lead me to the basement?" He held up his elbow and she took it gleefully. "Thank you,"

"You're welcome,"

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	8. Chapter 8

_This is a slightly odd chapter; I had to cut it in half. I'll get the other half out soon. Just sit back and enjoy this one._

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"Hyde!" Eric called cheerfully as Hyde followed Jackie into the basement. "You're up!"

"We're watching 'Charlie's Angels' but we could do something else if you want?" Donna said cautiously.

"Nah man, you go ahead, I'll just listen," Hyde said as Jackie placed him in his chair. He felt her sit down on the floor and lean against his legs. There must not be any room on the couch.

"Dude! You're missing the best part of the show! The girls!" Kelso yelled without tack.

"Gee thanks Kelso for reminding me," Hyde said sarcastically.

"Oh man!" Kelso gasped. It was the same tone he used whenever he's just realised something. "You can't look at girls anymore!"

"Good thing it's temporary then," Hyde said curtly. It worked like a charm, everyone went silent and he felt Jackie tense up. "Now will you all shut up, it hard enough to know what's going on in this show when _can_ see let alone when you're blind,"

Hyde grinned as he felt Jackie giggle silently against his legs.

A few minutes later Hyde was grinning broadly as he listened to the television. As far as he was concerned, they were the ones who were missing out. This show was damn hilarious when you couldn't see it.

"_Now, wait a minute Sabrina. Let's go over this again. Professor Peter Wycinski hurdled his 60-year-old body onto our porch and marched into our room bearing a bottle of plum brandy."_

Hyde chuckled and he felt Jackie turn to look at him. Probably wondering what had got into him.

"What's up with Hyde?" Kelso asked.

"It's funnier when you can't see it," he explained.

"I know what we could do!" Jackie piped up.

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Hyde sat in his chair desperately trying to command his sight to give him anything. A little glimpse at the rest of the group. It was frustrating. He couldn't even tell if the blobs he was trying to focus on were even them.

"Are you guys seriously all wearing blindfolds?" he asked as he squinted and blinked.

"Yes!" Jackie said as she slapped his knee in annoyance. "Now shhh! I can't hear what's going on,"

"_Yeah, just last week Rosalynn Carter leaped through my kitchen window with a quart of chilli."_

The group all laughed.

"You're right, Hyde. This _is_ funnier when you can't see it," Eric said.

"Oh dear Lord! What are you geniuses doing now? You're not on dope, are you?" Red's voice boomed from the stairs. The older man looked around the basement at the kids who permanently littered his house. The only one without a sock tied around their head was Steven and now Eric who had ripped his off when Red had started speaking.

Kitty's heels clipped down the stairs and came to a stop next to Red. She wanted to see what he was talking about so much that she burst into gleeful laughter when she saw the group. "Oh! Isn't it sweet, Red! They didn't want Steven to feel left out!"

"It's been difficult enough having one blind idiot stumbling about the place, I don't want to have six," he grumbled. "Sorry Steven," he added as an afterthought.

Hyde just chuckled. Red was Red, what were you going to do?

"Read a book or something," Red scolded then stomped upstairs. A flash of a camera filled the room.

"You all look so cute," Kitty said then she followed Red.

"Hey!" Hyde exclaimed suddenly. It was so out of character that Jackie jumped out of her skin and spun around to see what the matter was. "I saw the flash!"

"That's great!" Jackie screeched and before she thought about what she was doing she flung her arms around him and hugged him tight. She was just so relieved to find out that he could still see slightly. A little of the guilt that had been weighing her heart down, lifted.

"That's great, Hyde," Eric said "Although, you seem to have grown a Jackie, you may want to think about getting that removed,"

Jackie detached herself from Hyde's neck and stuck her tongue out at Eric.

"This is awesome, Hyde!" Donna said "You might get you're sight back in like a week,"

"Yeah! We should celebrate!" Kelso yelled as he jumped to his feet in excitement. "Let's play Marco Polo!"

The sound of several people frogging Kelso at the same time was like music to Hyde's ears. "Ow!"

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After a couple of days in Jackie's and Mrs Foreman's unbreakable and everlasting care, Hyde decided to get Eric to convince Donna who would then convince the two other women that Hyde _really_ needed to get out of the house. So after much consideration from the group and an argument with Kitty about the importance of wearing jeans in public they decided they only had the money between them to go to 'The Hub' so that's where they ended up. Hyde had never noticed before how much 'The Hub' _smelt_. He could find the doorway then find a table just by the smell of fast food alone. It was strangely comforting to be somewhere he had spent most of his childhood with the friends he had known for most of his life and a girl he had those funny feelings for sitting beside him, occasionally touching his arm and describing something someone had done. Just to help him keep track of the conversation. He was so completely surrounded and embraced by so many familiar voices, sounds, smells and feelings that he could almost have forgotten the fact he was unable to see the laughter, the food and Jackie.

Jackie touched his arm. "Fez has seen some girl he thinks he can chat up, he's going over to talk to her," she whispered to him.

"Is she hot?" he asked curiously.

"She's alright," she said and he felt her give a little shrug. "She's nothing like me though,"

"Of course not," Hyde said he turned and tapped Kelso on the shoulder. "Is she hot?"

"Oh, so hot!" Kelso yelled.

Hyde strained his hearing and managed to pick out Fez's voice from the crowd of people hanging out around the pinball machine.

"Hello my lovely," Fez said.

"Oh hi Fez," she sounded bored. Poor Fez, he never was very good at picking who to talk to.

"He's doing that thing where he sticks out his chest!" Kelso chuckled happily.

"He always reminds me of a rooster when he does that," Donna said.

"I was wondering if you would like to join me in a plate of fries," Fez continued.

"Look Fez, you're nice but…" The rest of her sentence was lost when something more interesting caught Hyde's attention.

"Who's that foreign guy?" the voice was angry, gruff. From the sound of it we were talking about quite a large guy. "Why is he talking to my girl?!" Uh oh, it was definitely a jealous boyfriend situation.

"Somebody tell Fez to stop talking to that girl," Hyde said. Normally, he'd just let the situation play out. A good Fez-beating was always funny. This time, however, Hyde recognised the voice. This time, it was George Sanders, notorious for being a violent bastard.

"What? Why?" Kelso said "She looks like she might actually agree to fries with him,"

"That's George Sanders' girlfriend-" Hyde was cut off by the sound of a chair being thrown to the ground with a great crash of metal on tile.

"Oh, he looks angry," Eric whimpered.

"Oi punk! What do you think you're _doing_?!" Sanders bellowed across the small shop. His voice reverberated against the walls and ceiling and his footsteps made an equally impressive thunder.

Hyde heard Fez start to whimper and the little slut he was talking to, sigh and storm out in a huff.

"Somebody's got to go over and help him, man," Eric said in a shaky voice.

"Don't look at me, man! Don't get me wrong, I love Fez like a brother but that guy could stop a truck with his bare hands," Kelso said.

"Well, somebody's got to help him!"

What was wrong with these jerks? They can't just leave Fez to deal with Sanders on his own. Hyde got up and made his way over to Fez's side much to the dismay of Jackie and the group.

"Hyde! Get back here," Eric whispered furiously. "That guy is _huge!_"

"Yea man, he could snap you in half!" Kelso agreed quietly.

Hyde rolled his eyes at his friend's cowardliness and stopped walking when Fez grabbed his arm and whispered a small 'help'.

"Foreign Kid!" Sanders boomed. "I asked you what you were doing, I want an answer,"

It was then Hyde realised just how close Sanders had got to Fez. So close that Fez had to reach down from Sanders' grip on his collar to tug at Hyde to ask for help.

"Put him down, Sanders," Hyde ordered. "He wasn't doing anything,"

Hyde felt Fez get lowered to the floor as Sanders' small attention span struggled to grow to include Hyde in the equation.

"Are you telling me what to do _Hyde_?" Sanders sneered. Hyde coughed as the large boy's breath trickled over his face. The smell of hotdog and beer made it apparently clear that George was sticking his face way to close to Hyde's for his liking.

At that moment, Kelso had decided to grow a spine and barrelled into Hyde's side in a way of coming to his defence.

"No, Mr Sanders, sir," Kelso said "Hyde and Fez were just trying to sort out a misunderstanding!"

"Yes, Mr Sanders, I did not mean to woo your woman," Fez said unhelpfully. "I did not even know it was your woman,"

"I think you should teach them a lesson, George!" some idiot jock called out.

"They're making a fool of you, Sanders!" Idiot Jock's friend added.

"Are you making a fool of me?!" Sanders bellowed outraged.

"You don't need any help, man," Kelso chuckled. "BURN,"

Oh great. Kelso's a goner.

"You're going to regret that, punk!" Sander's roared and Kelso screamed. Fez yelled at Hyde to do something as Sander's pulled back to give a mega punch.

Hyde did the only thing he could do being at a disadvantage with the whole sight thing. He flung out his own punch and hoped to God he hit the right person. Fist connected with nose and a huge howl echoed throughout the shop.

"YOU BROKE MY NOSE!" the giant yelled.


	9. Chapter 9

_Second part! I personally like this chapter but I am one for the drama. Thank you for all your compliments, I read them in the morning then for the rest of the day I'm too happy for anything bad to happen. Well, except for my family getting into a car crash but they're all fine so I'm taking it as a good thing. Apart from the fact we haven't got a car anymore. But we can manage without one for a while. _

_I feel quite depressed after writing that paragraph. More reviews please._

"Hyde run!" Eric shouted.

Hyde did as he was told and turned sharply only to have his knee connect harshly with the leg of a table. He tried for a different direction but it was too late, a beefy hand wrapped around his throat and slammed him to the floor. He heard Jackie scream above the cheers of 'fight, fight, fight' from the jocks.

The burns around his necks seared with pain as Sanders squeezed and twisted the skin. The first punch Hyde received was to his ribs on his left side. It was like somebody had hit him with a handbag full of cinder blocks.

Hyde kicked his legs and hit torso but he didn't have enough strength to do much damage or push the larger boy of him.

"Get off him!" Jackie's voice was furious and very close. "He can't see, you moron!"

There was a sound of little pats and Jackie pounded her small fists into Sanders.

The lack of oxygen was making his lungs burn and he could feel his punches getting weaker and slower.

"You're going to kill him!" Jackie shouted heatedly. "He can't even see you to fight back!"

That got Einstein's attention. His grip loosened around Hyde's neck but didn't let go and the large guy turned to look at the enraged cheerleader.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Get off him," Jackie yelled and Hyde felt the hand at his throat get tugged away.

Hyde gasped and started gulping down deep breaths of air. Sanders stood up and let Jackie get to Hyde.

"Steven!" she cried. "Are you alright?"

Well, that was a stupid question.

"I'm a hundred percent, Jackie," he said sarcastically. At least it was meant to sound sarcastic; it came out more like one long rasp.

"You could have really hurt him, you jerk!" Jackie yelled at the befuddled Sanders.

"Ow! Stop hitting me, you bitch!" George whined.

Hyde started to fume again. Nobody called Jackie a bitch except for him! Hyde was just about to throw another punch at the guy when Jackie grabbed his elbow annoyingly and pulled him up.

"Donna! Get Eric, we're leaving," she ordered.

Hyde heard quiet, pain filled moans coming from somewhere off to left when Jackie started pulling him painfully towards the door in a hurry; he could feel her hands shaking in fear or anger, either one.

"What happened to Foreman?" he asked when they got outside and Jackie started pulling him towards the Vista Cruiser.

"He got elbowed in the face," she said simply. "Is your neck ok?"

"It burns a little," he said truthfully.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around to look in some unknown location.

"Those cowardly bastards!" she yelled as she swivelled sharply again. Hyde shivered as the cold wind whipped around him, he didn't mind much, it was a nice change from the constant itching and burning on his arms and legs.

"Jackie, what's the matter?" Donna asked as she approached them her voice was strained with the effort of half-carrying Eric. "Those morons!!" she yelled as she caught on to what had made Jackie so upset. Ok, now Hyde wanted to know what was going on.

"This is just like Michael!" Jackie yelled and stamped her foot in frustration. "Why did I ever go out with that idiot!?"

Hyde chuckled and Jackie stopped her little tantrum to look at him.

"What? That's funny," he said.

"This is not funny, Steven! They've taken the Vista Cruiser and now we have no transport!" Jackie fumed.

"Well, I can still _walk_!" Hyde said angrily. They were still treating him as if he couldn't do anything. He didn't need it. He didn't need their pity or their help. In fact, he'd never needed to depend on anybody before so why should he have to now?

"She wasn't talking about you, Hyde," Donna said from behind them. "Eric is out cold,"

"Oh," Hyde said. Maybe he should stop over-reacting at the littlest thing.

"We need to find a phone," Donna said rationally. "And somewhere to put Eric down," she grunted as she shifted her boyfriend further onto her shoulder.

"There's a bench over there," Jackie said.

Hyde sighed as Jackie started pulling at his arm again. "Jackie," he said as he tugged his arm out of her grip. "Let me walk for myself for once,"

"Sorry," she mumbled and continued to walk towards the bench. It was unusual, the Jackie Burkhart he knew would made a fuss and demand to be able to baby him and pull him around everywhere. In fact, that's exactly what she had been doing for the last few days. Something was wrong. She wasn't being herself. It was kind of unnerving. She can't have been…scared? For him?

No. That was crazy because she had told him she just wanted to be friends now and he was perfectly ok with that. She had put on a very good display of going back to the way things were being she started that little obsession. In the morning she'd torture him with eye drops, they'd make fun of each other, she'd purposely make walking around a chore by hanging onto his elbow then she'd leave in the evening and he'd sigh a huge sigh of relief.

Was she sad? Did something happen that he didn't know about?

Oh, he didn't _know!_ He wasn't good at this feelings thing! If Jackie wanted to talk…wait a minute, when had he decided he needed to notice these things about Jackie? He didn't care about her. They hated each other. This was how things were meant to be; he didn't need to ask her how she was feeling or what was wrong. He just needed to keep his mouth shut.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Why didn't he ever listen to himself?

"Huh?" she replied distractedly. She was either genuinely distracted or she didn't want to talk about it, which was fine by him. He didn't care. If she didn't want people sticking their nose in, he wasn't going to push.

"You've not been acting like yourself recently," he pushed. What was wrong with him today?

They reached the bench and turned to help Donna lift Foreman onto the surface. For a small guy, he weighed a lot more than you'd expect, which just goes to show that Donna was a lot stronger than most of them thought.

"Is he badly hurt?" Hyde asked. Knowing Eric he'd probably has severe concussion and a cracked skull. He was also incredibly fragile for a guy.

"Nah, he was fine until he saw blood from his nose bleed then he fainted," Donna said sadly.

"What do you think you were doing?!" Jackie yelled suddenly. It was like she'd finally burst. She was poking his chest painfully as she waited for an answer.

"Ow!" he said loudly, hoping she'd stop poking particularly raw burns.

"What the _hell_ do you think you were doing?" Jackie amended "You could've been killed!"

"Don't be so over-dramatic," he said as he grabbed her wrist to stop her relentless poking.

"You could've got Eric killed!" Donna said joining in on the attack against Hyde.

"Don't be so o… actually, yes, I probably could've," he joked; he sensed he didn't appreciate it as much as he did so he went for sincerity. "Somebody had to help Fez,"

"The _blind_ guy!?" Donna exclaimed.

"Well I didn't hear anyone else volunteering to go!"

"Fez would've been fine!" Jackie shrieked.

"No he wouldn't! This is Fez!" he said. "Why do you care so much?"

"I care because you can't do these things anymore, Steven!" Jackie shouted. "You can't play fight with the guys. You start a brawl at 'The Hub'. You can't vandalise, steal or goof around. You just can't act like you did before! You're _blind!_"

"And whose fault is that?!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he wished he could have swallowed them back. He didn't really feel that way. He was just so angry. Who says he couldn't keep doing those things. He may be a clumsy idiot right now but if whole blindness thing _was _permanent who's to say he can't get better at living without his sight. He may even be better than them at some things. He just wished everyone would stop acting like he was made of glass!

"Jackie, I didn't-"

"She walked off, dillhole," Donna mumbled angrily.

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End file.
